Advocacy Project
Hunger's Impact on Learning
SUN, 10/01/2006
Understanding the relationship between hunger and learning requires a long-term perspective: what happens at one stage of life affects later stages, and what happens in one generation affects the next. Consider hunger’s impact on learning. Nutrition during pregnancy and the first 2 years of life strongly influences future mental capacity. Along with genetics, stimulation and socio-economic factors, the nutritional conditions during pregnancy and infancy has an important impact on the growth of the brain. After early childhood, it is still possible to improve children’s cognitive development, but their fundamental capacity has in many ways already been determined. Hunger keeps children out of school and limits their ability to concentrate once there. At school age (5 to 17 years old) hunger keeps children from making the most of opportunities to learn and develop their minds. Many do not attend school, since their parents need them to stay home to help produce food or earn money to purchase it. Even when children make it to classrooms, they cannot concentrate on lessons it they are hungry. Hungry adults are not able to take advantage of learning opportunities and therefore transmit hunger to the next generation. Hunger in adulthood (18 years and older) does not have the long-term damaging impact on mental capacity that it does in earlier stages of life. But it can make it difficult to take advantage of opportunities to learn. Hungry adults have less time to focus on activities that do not have a direct payoff in improved nutrition. And they have more trouble concentrating during training. This means that they do not acquire the skills needed to address hunger for themselves and their children.
Overview
Most people dislike feeling hunger and kids are no exception. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines hunger as a physiological state of discomfort resulting from a chronic shortage of food intake. Hunger has been linked to disease, pain, physical weakness, anxiety and death. With over 40 percent of households living below the poverty level in the United States, many children are affected by hunger. Approximately 13 million American children live with or are at risk of experiencing hunger. Because childhood represents such a critical period in human development, the long-term impact of hunger on children can be extremely detrimental.
Hunger Hits Physically
Good nutrition has a direct link to proper physical growth and development for kids. Children who experience chronic, unsatisfied hunger are at risk of not getting the appropriate intake of necessary vitamins and minerals to ensure reaching developmental milestones. A child might be shorter than average height and could be significantly underweight. Some kids succumb to common childhood diseases because hunger lowers immunity necessary for warding off illnesses. Kids suffering from hunger often have poorer overall physical health.
A vicious circle
“A kid who is hungry cannot learn. A kid who can’t learn drops out of school. A kid without an education can’t get a job and help America compete in the global economy. A kid without a job may turn to crime, get arrested and cost taxpayers $40,000 a year to sit in prison.”
—Robert Egger2
Hunger and Obesity
Even during our hunger crisis, America’s obesity epidemic is reaching epic proportions.
A contradiction? Not at all. Most people who are overweight are actually undernourished, with a diet that’s high in calories but low in nutrients — a diet that is frequently the least expensive to maintain.
- #5NC rank among 50 states for childhood obesity6
- 31%of NC children ages 2 to 4 are overweight or at risk of being overweight6
- $1,500 moreper year is spent on health care by obese people — which obviously has a big impact on our health care system7
- Obesity continues to shrink the available pool of military recruits, limiting our ability to protect our nation2
- Children who suffer from food insecurity are more likely to be obese8
Is there a link between a child’s ability to learn and how they eat? TheTufts University Center on Hunger, Poverty and Nutrition Policyshows a link between nutrition and cognitive development. Cognitive development can be defined as the ability for the brain to develop so that learning becomes easier. Their statement includes these points:
- Undernutrition (not getting enough to eat on a regular basis) and being poor can delay brain development and ability to learn. – The longer a child does not get enough to eat, the greater the chance of learning delays.
- Iron-deficiency anemia (low iron in the blood), which affects nearly 25% of poor children, is linked with impaired ability to learn.
- Poor children who attend schoolhungryperform worse on standardized tests than poor children who attended schoolwell- fed.
- Improved nutrition can change the effects of not getting enough to eat early in life.
When children do not get enough to eat, their bodies try to save this small amount of food energy. Energy is first used to keep basic body functions going, like the heart and lungs. Next, it is used for growth. Lastly, it is used for social activity and learning. Even if these children appear to have good physical growth, they may have social and learning delays from not having enough to eat.
Children who are more able to learn can lead more productive lives. They do better in school and are more able to learn about life, deal with its challenges and make better choices. In other words, better nourished children lead to a better society overall.
The effects of poor nutrition do not occur alone. Most often these children are poor and suffer from the effects of living in poverty. These could include poor housing and health care, lack of paid work for parents, and weakened family and community support systems. Nutrition is just one of the many factors that needs to be addressed.
The good news is that there are many programs that can help children become better nourished. There are programs that help pregnant women, since the effects of not getting enough to eat can begin in the womb. Programs that promote and support breast-feeding help women to give their babies’ brains the best start in life. There are school feeding programs that provide food for children at little or no cost. Community kitchens and food banks help people provide food for their children. As children become better nourished, they become better able to learn.
We all need to become aware of the link between hunger and the ability to learn. After all, it takes a whole community to raise a child. We can all benefit from healthy, well-fed children.
For more information, please contact your local Public Health Nutritionist.
WRITTEN BY THE PUBLIC HEALTH NUTRITIONISTS OF SASKATCHEWAN
Originator:Cathy Knox
The Issue:
Nearly 16 million children (or 1 in five kids) live in a “food-insecure” household. This means they lack the means to get enough nutritious food on a regular basis and struggle with hunger at some time during the year as a result.
Why It Matters:
Health
- Inadequate access to food during pregnancy has been shown to increase the risk for low birth weight in babies. Children who struggle with hunger are likely to be sick more often, to recover from illness more slowly, and to be hospitalized more frequently. [1]
- Children who struggle with hunger are more susceptible to obesity and its harmful health consequences. [2]
Education & Learning
- Food insecurity has been linked with delayed development, poorer attachment, and learning difficulties in the first two years of a child’s life.[3]
- Food insecure children may be at greater risk of truancy and school tardiness. [4]
- On average, students who eat school breakfast have been shown to attend 1.5 more days of school per year, and achieve 17.5% higher scores on standardized math tests. [5]
Economic Impact
- Students who attend class more regularly are 20% more likely to graduate from high school, and high school graduates typically earn $10,090 more per year and enjoy a 4% higher employment rate. [5]
- The Center for American Progress’ Hunger in America report calculated that “the impact of being held back a grade or more in school resulting from hunger and its threat resulted in $6.9 billion in lost income for 2009 dropouts in 2010 and that high school absenteeism led to a loss of $5.8 billion, also in 2010. In total, food insecurity led to a loss of $19.2 billion in [life-time] earnings in 2010.” [6]
- Hunger costs our nation at least $167.5 billion due to the combination of lost economic productivity per year, more expensive public education because of the rising costs of poor education outcomes, avoidable health care costs, and the cost of charity to keep families fed.[5]
No Arkansan should ever go to bed hungry.
With your help, they won’t.
At 19.7 percent, Arkansas ranks amongthe highest in the nation in householdfood insecurity. That means Arkansans — more than almost any other Americans — are often unsure of where they will get their next meal. Arkansas children, for whom school lunch may be the only meal they can depend on, are at risk. The working poor, whose paychecks will not buy a month’s worth of groceries, must find alternative sources of food. The elderly, who too often must choose between their prescriptions and their groceries, are going without. In fact, Arkansas has a higher rate of food insecurity among seniors than any other state in the nation.This is reality for far too many of our fellow Arkansans.
n 2009, Arkansas ranked #1 in the nation in childhood hunger. Share Our Strength, a national non-profit organization dedicated to alleviating childhood hunger in America, chose Arkansas as a proof of concept state in which to execute their strategy of reducing childhood hunger by:
- Improving access to public and private nutrition programs that provide food to families and their children in need
- Strengthening community resources for getting healthy food to children and families
- Improving awareness about available programs
- Educating families about healthy and affordable food choices that will stretch their food budgets
In 2010, the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance and Share Our Strength joined together with Governor Mike Beebe and First Lady Ginger Beebe in launching the Arkansas No Kid Hungry campaign. With generous support from corporate partners Weight Watchers, Tyson Foods, and the Midwest Dairy Council, the Arkansas No Kid Hungry campaign has become a successful public-private partnership working to end childhood hunger in Arkansas.
Today, Arkansas has gone from #1to #7in childhood food insecurity. How? We are turning the tide on childhood hunger byproviding more than 4million summer meals to Arkansas children at risk of hunger in 2013 alone (1.6 million more than in 2012), by providing grants and technical support to more than 250schools as they introduce Breakfast-After-the-Bell programsthat make breakfast part of the school day, andby helping more than 3000families learn to shop smarter and cook healthier through Cooking Matters and Cooking Matters at the Store nutrition education programs.
A Comprehensive Campaign
The programs of the No Kid Hungry Arkansas Campaign focus on many aspects of the health and nutrition of children and families:
School Breakfast
Hungry children have serious difficulty learning. Our Breakfast Advocates and Breakfast Manager work with Arkansas school districts and individual schools across the state to improve the participation rates of their school breakfast programs by introducing alternative breakfast delivery models like Breakfast in the Classroom, Grab & Go and Second Chance breakfast.
AfterSchool Meals Program
Our Field Managers help churches, schools, civic groups, boys and girls clubs and other organizations connect with the resources they need to provide meals to children in their communities when school is not in session. Through additional capacity building grants from Share Our Strength, we help sponsors develop educational enrichment aspects of their programs and improve their capacity to serve more children.
Summer Meals Program
Children are especially vulnerable to food insecurity in the summer months. Family budgets are tight, parents are working and nutrition often takes a back seat. Our Field Managers help identify organizations that are feeding children and help them take advantage of the USDA funded Summer Meal Service Program that provides meals to children in safe, supervised locations.
Cooking Matters
Many people with low incomes tell us they would prefer cooking healthy, nutritious meals at home, but they don’t always know what to buy or how to prepare it. Cooking Matters is a series of 6-week signature courses that teach the skills individuals and families need to make economical, healthy food choices to stretch their food budget. During class, participants practice preparing delicious, low cost, nutritious meals from the Cooking Matters cookbook, as well as learn important nutrition information.
Cooking Matters at the Store
Making healthy food choices starts at the grocery store. Cooking Matters at the Storeis a guided grocery store tour that teaches people on tight food budgetshow to read food labels, stretch their food dollars and make informed decisions about the food they buy. These hands-on tours also help participants gain the confidence they need to take more active roles in creating better eating habits for themselves and their families.
The Facts About Child Hunger in Arkansas
More than 196,000 children in Arkansas are at risk of hunger and not getting the food they need to lead healthy, active lives.Feeding America, Map The MealGap; 2012
200,000 Arkansaschildren (29%) live in poverty.Kids Count Data Center, 2013
More than 28% of familiesin Arkansas with children struggled to afford enough food for themselves and their families in 2012.FRAC Food Hardship Report-children
LITTLE ROCK, AR (News Release) - Earlier today, Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released itsannual reporton food insecurity in the U.S., finding that more than 48.9 million Americans lived in households struggling against hunger in 2012.
Sadly, Arkansas ranked 1st in the category “very low food security” at 8.1 percent. Households that fall into this USDA category had more severe problems, experiencing deeper hunger and cutting back or skipping meals on a more frequent basis with both adults and children.
Arkansas ranked 2nd in the number of people facing food insecurity. According to the report, 19.7 percent, or roughly one in five Arkansans, do not know where their next meal is coming from.
This report comes just one week after a study by the National Foundation to End Senior Hunger ranked Arkansas the worst state for senior hunger. Their report shows that an astonishing 24.3% of individuals age 60 and older face the threat of hunger in our state.
“The numbers from these reports unfortunately validate what we are seeing out in the local communities,” said Rhonda Sanders, CEO of the Arkansas Foodbank. “There are many more people who are hungry than we expect and who they are often surprises us. TheArkansas Foodbankremains committed to acquiring, storing and distributing food to local food pantries, food kitchens and shelters to feed those who are in need.”
Last year the Foodbank distributed over 9.6 million pounds of food at no cost and an additional 8 million pounds at low cost to our agencies in the state. Providing free and low cost food to our local partners means thousands of hungry Arkansans have much-needed food for meals.
Percent
Food insecure households / 14.4 / 18.6 / 21.2
Very low food secure households / 4.9 / 7.5 / 8.4
More information on Food Insecurity in Arkansas
• Food Security in the U.S. Topic Page
The effects of going hungry in childhood may be more lasting than previously thought.Researchers studying people raised on Barbados who suffered severe starvation as infants found these adults were more anxious, less sociable, less interested in new experiences and more hostile than those who were well-nourished throughout childhood, according to astudypublished in theJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Scientists led by Dr. JaninaGaller of Harvard Medical School studied 77 children, born between 1967 and 1972, who were hospitalized for severe starvation syndromes known as marasmus or kwashiorkor at an average age of seven months, to determine how the malnutrition affected personality development.
Kwashiorkor results from a lack of protein and is marked by the protruding belly that has become a familiar symptom of child starvation. Marasmus is caused by poor caloric intake and children with this condition look more emaciated. Some children in the study had symptoms of both. Worldwide, nearly 3 million children under five die of hunger annually— and around 25% of the world’s children suffer stunted growth due to malnutrition, according to the World Health Organization.